


Sick of Birthdays (Marcia Overstrand One-Shot)

by overstrand_marcia_i



Category: Septimus Heap - Angie Sage
Genre: Angst, Magyk, Other, Septimus Heap - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-30
Updated: 2018-03-30
Packaged: 2019-04-15 01:52:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 612
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14149347
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/overstrand_marcia_i/pseuds/overstrand_marcia_i
Summary: Marcia's birthday brings up bad memories for her every year. Alther is trying to help out.





	Sick of Birthdays (Marcia Overstrand One-Shot)

**Author's Note:**

> DISCLAIMER: I do not own or claim any relation to the Septimus Heap franchise. All canon characters are credited to Angie Sage. This is simply fancontent, created for other fans.

Sick of Birthdays:  
Marcia Overstrand One-Shot

It was June thirteenth and Marcia had spent most of the day reorganizing the **Unstable** charms up in the Pyramid Library. In fact, she hadn’t even gone downstairs for lunch. Marcia knew that if she walked into the Great Hall, the floor and everyone who saw it was going to wish her a happy birthday, and she wanted none of it.  


Marcia wasn’t a fan of her birthday; in fact, one could go so far as to say she hated it. In her opinion, all it did was dredge up her unwanted, unpleasant childhood memories. Her birthday honestly didn’t matter to Marcia, or at least she tried to pretend like it didn’t. Nobody had tried to bring the matter up with her, excepting Alther in the first year of her apprenticeship.  


Poor Alther, he’d meant well, but throwing her a party and inviting _her parents, _of all people, hadn’t really been the greatest move on his part. She remembered seeing them in the hallway with their disapproving, angry scowls and she had run upstairs and hid in the Pyramid Library till it was over. _In fact, _Marcia thought with a sigh, _she was sitting in almost the same spot she had been that night. _  
______

__

____

Marcia was deep in thought as she sat on the floor separating the loose charms into piles around her, and so she failed to notice the door creak open and the ghost of Alther Mella waft inside.  


“Marcia?” he asked gently, breaking her train of thought.  


She jumped, cursing softly under her breath. “Thank God it’s just you,” Marcia said, hardly glancing up at Alther’s concerned face.  


He floated closer and hovered above the floor next to her. “Are you doing okay today, Marcia?” he asked quietly, watching her expressions shift as if she were putting on a mask.  


“Fine.” Marcia went back to separating the charms. “I’m fine, Alther, I’m _fine. _Really.”  
__

____

“Are you sure?” he asked, reaching out and touching Marcia’s shoulder with a ghostly hand. He wasn’t convinced by Marcia’s tough act; he’d known her too long.  


Marcia looked up at him, her expression somewhere between helplessness and anger. Finally, she spoke. “Alther, what do you want me to say? That I’m unhappy? That I’m sick and tired of birthdays? Well, I am. And _how _am I supposed to talk about it if every single time someone tells me ‘happy birthday,’ I’m six years old again and with my _parents?_ What am I supposed to do, Alther? Why does everyone have to make such a big _deal _out of it?”  
____

_____ _

__

She paused, her voice and hands trembling. “I’m sick of it,” she whispered uncharacteristically quietly. “Alther, it’s every damn year. Every single year. I hate my birthday, Alther. You _know _that.”  
__

____

____

Alther sat beside her, silent, for several minutes before he spoke. “I’m sorry, Marcia,” he said softly. “Is there anything I can do?”  


Marcia sighed heavily. “Besides take away the memories? Not really, Alther. I just have to wait for tomorrow and try not to think about it.” She paused, setting the last charm in a pile to her left. “Sorry,” Marcia whispered, trying to ignore the stinging feeling of helplessness that was horribly reminiscent of her childhood.  


“You don’t have to apologize, Marcia. It’s okay,” he said quietly.  


Neither one of them could think of more to say so they simply sat together in thoughtful silence for the rest of the afternoon. Although she did not say anything more, Marcia was overwhelmingly grateful that she didn’t have to be alone on her birthday.  


If anything, it made her a little happier, and to Alther, that was enough.


End file.
